How To Nail Social Media Marketing

How To Nail Social Media Marketing (Without Fail) – A Personal Guidebook

2 http://www.jonrognerud.com (c) 2010. Personal Copy. No Distribute.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Why should you care about Social Media Marketing? .............................................................................. 8

Internet 2004 vs. Internet 2009: The Static Web Evolves into an Interactive Web .................................. 9

The Dynamics for Internet Usage in 2004 ................................................................................................ 10

The (Social) Dynamics for Internet Usage in 2010 ................................................................................... 10

How Do We Define Social Media Marketing? ......................................................................................... 13

Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing: User Contributions and Control ................................................ 15

Getting Started on the Social Media (Tracking) Frontier ......................................................................... 19

Social Media Metrics ................................................................................................................................ 20

Creating an Authority Presence Online: What it is and How to achieve it ............................................. 23

Social Media Marketing, Authority Presence and SEO ............................................................................ 24

What is Authority? ................................................................................................................................. 26

What are the Characteristics of Experts? ................................................................................................ 27

What’s the Big Deal about Authority – Who Cares Anyway? ............................................................. 31

How Can You Become an Authority? ....................................................................................................... 32

Authority Development Strategies: Tools of the Trade .......................................................................... 34

Web 2.0 Components and Tools .............................................................................................................. 36

Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing ...................................................................................................... 37

Brand Awareness and Social Media Marketing ....................................................................................... 38

Credibility and Trust: The Big Picture of Authority .................................................................................. 40

The Making of a Social Media Marketing Campaign ............................................................................... 42

What Makes a Viable Social Network? .................................................................................................... 43

How Industries can use Social Media Marketing ..................................................................................... 45

Industry Social Network Examples .......................................................................................................... 46

Occupational Social Network Examples .................................................................................................. 47

http://www.jonrognerud.com/



Appreciating the Power of Social Media in Other Industries .................................................................. 48

Why should the Finance Industry Care About Social Media? ................................................................. 49

The Many Faces of Social Media in Finance ............................................................................................ 50

Social Media is All About People ............................................................................................................. 52

How Companies Can Utilize the People Power of Social Media ............................................................. 53

Important Focal Points in Social Media Marketing ................................................................................. 54

How can the Finance Industry Realize ROI (Return on Investment)? ..................................................... 55

What Does It Take To Create A Successful Social Network Blog? ........................................................... 56

Focus On the Subject Matter Expert Market ........................................................................................... 57

Social Media Marketing Best Practices .................................................................................................... 58

A Digital Money Web Quest..................................................................................................................... 59

Stimulating “Very Serious” Visitor Traffic and Search Engines Rankings ................................................ 62

The Bottom Line Value of Using Web 2.0 And Social Media ................................................................... 63

The Making of a Web 2.0 Blog Post ......................................................................................................... 64

Pump Up the Magnet Power Of Your Blog With Plugins ......................................................................... 65

Know Your Website Visitors .................................................................................................................... 66

Powerful Web 2.0 Content Research Steps ............................................................................................. 67

Content Partnerships ............................................................................................................................... 68

Capitalize On the Power Of The Link ....................................................................................................... 69

Link Building to Authority Sites – Leveraging Social Media .................................................................... 72

Content Is Still King .................................................................................................................................. 73

Social Media Marketing Versus Advertising ............................................................................................ 76

Reference Sites ......................................................................................................................................... 78

Almost Done – Just Consider These Statistical Facts ............................................................................... 81

Final Thoughts – Conclusion and the Future ........................................................................................... 83




Thanks for Reading: Next Steps & Feedback ........................................................................................... 85

GLOSSARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TERMS ............................................................................ 86

Authority Website/Website Authority .............................................................................................. 86

Blogosphere..................................................................................................................................... 86

Vertical Market/Cultural/Self-Expression ......................................................................................... 86

Dynamic Web Page .......................................................................................................................... 86

Interactive Media............................................................................................................................. 87

“Live Person” Application ................................................................................................................. 87

Social Bookmarking .......................................................................................................................... 87

Social Media .................................................................................................................................... 87

Social Media Marketing ................................................................................................................... 88

Social Media Metrics ........................................................................................................................ 88

Social Network/Networking ............................................................................................................. 89

Static Web Page ............................................................................................................................... 89

Subject Matter Expert (SME) ............................................................................................................ 89

User Generated/Contributed Content .............................................................................................. 90

Web 2.0 ........................................................................................................................................... 90

Wordpress ....................................................................................................................................... 90




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I sincerely hope you will enjoy the read and I look forward to your feedback – all of it!

Jon Rognerud – Social Media Innovation - Los Angeles, California – October, 2010.

PEOPLE I WANT TO THANK (AND THAT INSPIRED ME WHILE CREATING THIS E-BOOK)

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About Jon Rognerud

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About Nanc T. Smith

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INTRODUCTION

Why should you care about Social Media Marketing?

Did I hear an excited “Social Media – Rocks!” from you? Or, like so many business owners and corporate

executives, maybe it’s more like “Social Media, Huh?”, or “Social Media, Yeah?” – With a BIG question

mark, and hesitation at the end? Read this book, and this will all begin to change for you, and move into

a positive change for you and your business. You need to understand how to nail social media, and you’ll

learn it here.

If you listened to an introduction video at http://www.jonrognerud.com – you’ll know what I’m talking

about. I will hopefully get you to see the light or at least things in a different way - and turn to the

positive, results driven side of the spectrum.

The overwhelming response to the Internet as a commercial vehicle was unexpected by many in 2004

especially after the “dot com bubble” burst. From 2000 to 2001, there were many proponents of e-

commerce who believed people would like its advantages, but even the most optimistic of the group has

been overwhelmed by the impact on e-commerce profits as a result of social media marketing.

Social media marketing is the art and science of building relationships throughout every phase of the

business cycle. Today’s businesses are moving in droves to learn how social media marketing works. This

guide is meant for you to use to determine your company’s social media marketing dialogue. The goal is

to present you with the tools, resources and information that supports your own goals and applies to

your niche.

(Courtesy Gravitysummit.com)





Internet 2004 vs. Internet 2009: The Static Web Evolves into an

Interactive Web

When you review the history of the Internet specifically in terms of commercial activity, the statistics are

mind-boggling:

Number of Users1 Search Engine Marketing Revenue2

2004: 812 Million 2004: $4 Billion

2009: 1 Billion 2009: $10 Billion

In the research paper, “The State of Search Engine Marketing 2004,” the findings regarding the growth

of commercial activity on the Internet sent shock waves through the business world. Although these

figures related only to advertisers in the United States and Canada, in 2004 these two countries invested

$4.087 billion dollars in search marketing programs.

The major players had yet to accept this new reality, but the e-commerce figures could not be denied.

Internet e-commerce could no longer be considered a vehicle only of use to entrepreneurs and small

companies. From 2005 to 2008, the landscape of Internet search engines became more populated with

large, well established brands such as Tiffany & Company, Harley Davidson, General Motors, Wal-Mart

and the New York Times Corporation.

1 Statistics provided by http://www.internetworldstats.com 2 Statistics provided by http://www.sempo.org


http://www.internetworldstats.com/

http://www.sempo.org/



Two Way Communications

The Dynamics for Internet Usage in 2004

In 2004, companies launched their websites in many cases as an “online brochure” basically converting

their print publications into electronic data.

Visionary companies took a different approach and sought out the answer to the question: “How can

we make e-commerce work for us?” These are the companies who collectively helped e-commerce

evolve to its present level of development by utilizing the following services and products:

Companies that deliver search media products/services: $3.1 billion

Related in-house Search Engine Marketing expenses: $618 million

Outsourced Search Engine Marketing services: $380

Search Engine Marketing technology license fees: $30 million

The (Social) Dynamics for Internet Usage in 2010

The Internet has evolved from a world of advertising messages to benefit conversations and “how-to”

discussions. The beginning of this new mode of operation is rooted in the interactive features that were

developed as a result of companies searching for ways to capture the attention of their audience, as

shown by the following:

Applications such as “Live Person” which enables a customer to send questions as text

messages to a company representative and have their answer in minutes rather than hours via

email is one example.

One Way Communication




Audio and video use increased in recorder versions and in streaming all types of media events

from conferences of fashion shows direct to their Internet audience.

The sum total of the response to the evolution of the Internet was a clear stated desire of the customer

for interaction with the company beyond email.

However in early 2005, the tide shifted again. YouTube swept the world off its feet and sent the

interactivity meter off the scale.

The overwhelming success of YouTube led to its purchase by Google in October of 2006.

Over 4000 social networking sites followed including the popular leaders: MySpace, Facebook, and

Twitter. It was at this point that the phrase “Web 2.0” began to be applied to the Internet user’s

motivation behind these websites.

Just as companies began to realize profits through search engine marketing, the landscape changed and

this type of marketing did not meet the changing needs of the visitors. Then number of visitors at many

of these sites started to drop. What was causing this change?

Consumers now had a bevy of tools at their disposal to use to compare prices between merchants, as

well as read reviews from other consumers on the products or services they were looking to buy. Some

of the companies who kept their head in the sand during this critical period are no longer online. The

companies who responded to the consumer’s preference proactively were able to make the transition

and gain a larger share of the market.

Another factor was the increase of Internet users and domain registrations. As more companies

launched websites the competition for search engine positions became ruthless. With over 812 million

Internet users (13 out of 100), the success of online business attracted even more attention in 2006. At

that time, there was an estimated 22,400,000 websites online. In 2008 the number of Internet users

rose to 1 billion (34 out of 100) and the number of websites increase to approximately 100,000,000.

The following statistics may surprise you:

Asia led the world in terms of Internet use in 2004 with 257,898,314 people online

The United States with 222 million Internet users and Europe with 230,886,424 surfers.

55,930,974 users in Latin America

17,325,900 in the Middle East

15,787,221 in Oceania and

12,937,100 surfers in Africa.

The statistics on the percentage of users who also have registered domains may be obscure, but the

number of international search engines makes it clear that by 2006 the Internet had become a true

“global” market arena.

For search engine marketing budgets contributions to rise from $4 billion dollars in revenue in 2004 to

$10 billion in 2009 is a clear indicator of growth.




Now, with the reality fully tested and found to be valid, it’s projected that by the year 2011, this figure

will nearly double: Revenues are expected to top $18.6 billion.

From 2000 to 2004 the buzz word was “information”; 2004 to 2007 the buzz word was “interactive”;

today, the buzz word is “open.”Social media marketing has proven to be the most effective way to

manage both the global market challenges and opportunities.




How Do We Define Social Media Marketing?

(Courtesy Marta Kagan)

Instead of asking what is social media marketing, asking why social media marketing is important to you,

would provide you with more verifiable information. In a nutshell, social media marketing represents

the evolution of the Internet. In the introduction to this section, social media marketing is defined as

“the art and science of building relationships throughout every phase of the business cycle.”

The e-commerce technology used on the Internet has dramatically expanded the possibilities for

companies to deliver goods and services to their audience. At the same time it has also created a more

sophisticated consumer who has the ability to compare your product to others based on reliability,

price, features and consumer confidence.

To fully grasp the potential of social marketing, think of it as the infrastructure of Internet activity. Every

user has a network of sites that they visit for news, social interaction entertainment, communication

and reference.

Visit MySpace.com and you will see any and all of these features on any profile. Where search engines

help people find your website, the social networking websites bring your company directly into the

Internet user's world.

Similar to the skepticism regarding the viability of e-commerce, the social networks in 2006 were

considered to be no more than a fad.

Then suddenly, the marketing potential of social networks was exposed when one company pushed the

envelope with the launch of a “bulletin” that was a well crafted, soft-sell. The company issued

invitations to all of their “friends” on MySpace and drove an avalanche of visitors to their site.


http://twitter.com/mzkagan



The problem with success stories such as these is the behind the scenes tasks that make it all look easy.

Make no mistake social marketing requires a significant amount of time and effort and shares many of

the same factors as traditional marketing.

The demographics used to create print and video campaigns are essential to social media marketing as

well.

The key to successful social marketing campaigns, however, is to understand the principle differences in

the way these two methods work.

There are over 4,000 social networking sites, defining a campaign that will work for you requires an

understanding that the focus is on interests and creating dialogues related to supporting that interest.

You must align your product or service to the interest of the social network otherwise it can become an

expensive, time-consuming and frustrating venture.

For fun, visit http://www.go2web20.net/ - just don’t waste too much of your time, there is much to do!

Embracing this strategy is difficult for companies who use traditional marketing techniques to focus

solely on the features of their product or service rather than the results desired by the consumer.

The “hard sell” rarely works in traditional marketing, and using this approach on the Internet is futile.

Using the relationship approach in social marketing also produces faster results than traditional

marketing because of its “instant word of mouth advertising” capability.

All it takes is for one person to tell another about a product or service that saved them money, time or

effort to spark a flood of visitors to your site.


http://www.go2web20.net/



Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing:

User Contributions and Control

Social media marketing is a process; it works from a personal perspective. The emphasis here is on the

person first and their business interests second. This marketing approach shifts from an impersonal

advertisement to a personal profile: Your commercial venture now has a human face. By becoming a

member of a social network, you are identifying with the common perspective of the group.

Similar to joining any social group, there is a period of time where you interact with others, discuss

issues and contribute to the network conversations. You share information about yourself, what you do

professionally as well as your leisure time interests.

As your circle of friends grows, you begin to tailor your dialogue with each of them to address their area

of interest. When coupled with efficiency and focus, social media marketing creates the best branding,

link building and search engine marketing strategy.

The wave of interactive applications that has become a part of the Internet today opened the door for

Internet users to contribute and control content on company websites; blog comments and customer

forums are just two examples.

The advent of websites dedicated to user contributed content takes this desire of the Internet user to

express themselves to the next level.

However social media is about generating a conversation. For example, inviting comments on a story.

This act doesn’t create a community. Social media is used in many cases to organize a network or

community around a common interest, but community and social media are two separate entities.




The simplest way businesses can leverage social media to discover how their customers respond to

specific initiatives or content. An enterprise can also benefit greatly by creating a community that

showcase their capabilities and cater to their customer base and their employees. Using rich media

applications to engage your audience can result in lower overhead, increase ROI and higher retention

levels. The five outstanding features of community are:

Consistency: There is a core membership that interacts over an extended period of time.

Commonality: Members become part of a community because of their interest in a specific

concept or goal.

Conversation: Within a community there are a variety of ongoing activities and discussions that

are initiated by different members.

Communication: The members of a community interact with each other independently about

issues that may not be the main topic of discussion in the community as a whole.

Commitment: Over time leaders of the community leaders come forward from their activities

that support their concerns.

A social media marketing campaign involve all of these aspects; it is a progressive strategy that requires

time to fully mature and produce results. Because this is a more personalized form of marketing, it is

vital to select the networks for your campaign with an eye to genuine interest due to the time required

to interact with other members.

Simply put, people are social by nature and social media marketing uses the Internet’s modern

communication to create a wide range of social interactions that cover every imaginable subject. No

matter what category you can think of, there is a social media website dedicated to it. With

approximately 4,000 social networks online, people are connecting to a greater assortment of social

media options like Twitter.com.

In addition to user contributed content as an information distribution source, we have now arrived at a

unique plateau in the development of the social networks: they are beginning to transform the way

news and events take place. In 2008 there was an earthquake in the Los Angeles area, there were

hundreds of detailed reports on what, when, where and how events were taking place on Twitter.com

almost 15 minutes before any official news outlet was able to report the story. This information could be

given to emergency crews to provide timely assistance during a disaster.

What’s really exciting is that now social media marketing is moving beyond the computer. Cell phone

technology has evolved to the level where you can deliver online messages to your consumer’s phones

and other portable media devices at anytime. Social media is revolutionizing marketing and the impact

maybe even greater than the industrial revolution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution)

When you apply this power to the area of business, it creates multiple avenues for your company to

connect through the medium they prefer. For business applications it’s important to really understand


http://www.twitter.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution



how the power of social media can influence the bottom line of company profitability. This marketing

perspective is all about relationships, communicating and meeting the needs of your customers.

What social media marketing provides to businesses is an immediate platform for enriching every

facet of a business relationship cycle; from generating leads to facilitating the sale to providing

customer care after the sale.

Research has shown that those in business today that learn how to effectively harness the power of

social media will have an advantage over their competition to such an extent that could lead to doubling

or tripling of their profits in as few as 12 months.

The visitor traffic to several of these social networks now rivals that of Google, the major search

engine. Because these networks are focused on the person, they have the potential to develop your

business in new areas as well.




At the core of social media marketing is a high-level web-based content management system. There are

some core components to creating an authority presence through social media, such as:

blogs,

news feeds,

forum creation,

article marketing,

automated and manual bookmarking,

online infomercials and video




Getting Started on the Social Media (Tracking) Frontier

Social media marketing is about people and communication. But, it is a lot more than just making

conversation: there are some serious metrics at work behind the scenes. Market researchers analyze the

entire social media marketing process to measure the return on investment (ROI).

The following columns (next page) provide examples of website activity and survey metrics that can

occur through a casual conversation with friends or following a shopper through a buying experience.




The market researchers for social media have a list of metrics they use such as:

Social Media Metrics 3

3 http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/




These metrics provide your business with the facts that are essential to launching your company’s

social media marketing campaign. This research documents that social networks are here to stay

primarily because they cater to the psychological drivers of human behavior to communicate, connect,

interact and be recognized.

It’s easy to compare the dollar value social media marketing represents to its costs. Companies that shift

in consumer preferences to social media will be able to best capitalize on the many opportunities that

social media marketing present. The effectiveness of “word of mouth” advertising to generate sales is

well documented.

Compared to the expense of traditional marketing, the required revenues for creating a social media

marketing campaign are minimal. The traditional cost drivers can be significantly reduced using social

media marketing.

The investment of time and effort is greater, however, than the return on investment in both time and

money. For example, a company using a “Product Review and Rating” feature can lower their

operational costs by reducing the number of product returns.

Social networks online extend and expand your company’s existing social media and the new developing

social media initiatives will also produce a higher level of value than many of the outdated marketing

practices that some companies still use. For example, the direct revenues generated by the typical paid

traffic drivers such as banner or display ads compared to the revenues produced by free social media

marketing will be less. At the same time social media provides a cost-effective alternative that actually

produces results that can become a “viral” marketing campaign, increasing the goodwill toward your

company for free.

Actively participating in social media marketing is also an important part of keeping your eye on your

competition and this awareness of your competitors campaigns can help in refining your initiatives.

By reviewing the social media tools that are effective for business-to-business and business-to-consumer

marketing, you can select the tools that will produce the best results in delivering what your customers

want.




SUMMARY

For businesses to utilize social media marketing fully, you will need some of the same tools used in

search engine marketing. First you will need to select a group of social networks that are related to your

service/product. Research is the key: this means developing an audience profile and the keywords that

relate to them and the service/product you offer. Then you have to structure a plan to introduce

yourself and the service/product that will benefit your circle of friends and the membership as a whole.

There will be videos that accompany this guide to show you the process step-by-step.

The reality is that your company may already be the subject of a social media network conversation. As

an exercise to prepare for the next section, take a minute and perform an Internet search on your own

company to see what is being said about your service/product and what image these comments

present. This gives you an excellent starting point for developing a social interaction with these

consumers. Places like http://www.google.com, http://blogsearch.google.com, http://www.serph.com

gets you started. There are many more resources and tools for this. (Contact me for a list of resources

and tools pertaining to a particular product or offering if this search becomes overwhelming).

In this section, the focus has been to demonstrate the power of social media as a marketing tool to use

within social networks. Not only does this form of marketing have the potential to increase the profits of

your company through sales, it can also help you keep your finger on the pulse of the consumer.

In turn, this can lower your operational costs as well as build awareness of how your competitors are

using social media to fulfill their business objectives.

In the next section, “Creating an Authority Presence Online: What It is and How to Achieve It” you

begin the process of organizing the information that you need to establish for core success in a social

media marketing campaign.

How well all of the social media tools, resources and strategies work together is heavily dependent on

the level of confidence your interactions inspire on the social networks of your choice. Establishing your

company as an authority and developing a successful social media campaign require you to look at your

company through the eyes of your customers and adapt your operations to suit their needs.


http://www.google.com/

http://blogsearch.google.com/

http://www.serph.com/



Creating an Authority Presence Online: What it is and How to

achieve it

Every Internet website for commercial purposes and otherwise is in competition for visitors.

Human beings have definite motivators that shape the behavior of an individual. These factors include;

environment, education, society and the media, all play a role in driving visitors to a particular website.

While the focus for website operators has been primarily on search engine marketing, stepping into the

social media marketing arena calls for a firm grip on the concept of website authority as it relates to

search.

Indeed now that the research has expanded to encompass the authority factor to understand how

visitors not only choose websites to visit initially, but consult on a regular basis, it’s clear that this is the

next frontier that needs to be addressed.




Social Media Marketing, Authority Presence and SEO

What’s interesting to note is that most Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists have a completely

different view on what it means to be an ‘Authority’ website as compared to Google.

Many search marketing firms (including my own: http://www.chaosmap.com) stress the importance of

inbound links to build credibility. They think in terms of the ‘authoritative sites.’

In most cases search engine optimization rarely addresses any other factors involved in the time-

consuming process of creating an authority presence. This is partly due to the fact, that most companies

are unwilling to invest the amount of effort required. On-page SEO (code, content, structure) is

important, but in highly competitive markets, you will not win the #1-3 positions race in Google without

authority and trust.

The search engines links don’t raise your website to the authority level alone: inbound links are the

result of being an authority.

Websites that have achieved authority status will attract a substantial visitorship. These visitors actively

check the content on a regular basis, discuss it with friends, write about it on their blogs and link to it in

the pursuit of becoming authorities themselves. You’ll see references to these sites across the social

media platform.

Inbound links are the major indicator that the search engines use to define authority, yet research

shows that a human visitor considers a website an authority when the content is specific to the subject

niche and constantly updated. Visitors also (without knowing it, perhaps) give higher ratings to an

authority website that link to other authorities, to further the understanding of visitor regarding their

search.

Google and the other major search engines recognize that authority websites link to other authorities.


http://www.chaosmap.com/



The bottom line is that the success of your social media marketing campaign is connected to your

efforts in creating an authority presence.

Authority building is an essential aspect of search engine marketing (the technical analysis, strategy and

recommendations). Social media marketing can be leveraged from both to help you maximize the

potential of your website.




What is Authority?

Now that the number of websites has passed the 100 million mark, the defining point for websites is the

amount of authority or expertise they demonstrate in their particular niche. Defining authority in terms

of website design and content is based on many factors, however for the sake of simplicity, website

authority is:

“A PERSON WHO HAS DEVELOPED EXPERT KNOWLEDGE AND HAS SHARED THIS KNOWLEDGE, TO THE POINT WHERE THEIR OPINION(S) REGARDING CERTAIN ISSUES ARE RESPECTED AND TRUSTED BY INDUSTRY PEERS.”

This definition is both interesting and important because it is through the process of sharing your

knowledge that it becomes an asset; the more freely knowledge is circulated, the more rapidly your

reputation grows by attracting the audience who is searching for this information.

Web publishing is based on the model of packaging and circulating information via text and graphic

images.

In terms of the dissemination of information or sharing ideas, the people behind an authority web

presence, the experts in a specific niche can easily be compared to the world of academia because both

of these groups are heavily invested in their field of endeavor.

They are able to provide extraordinary insight from their experience and research.




What are the Characteristics of Experts?

These two groups share similar traits that make it easy to identify them:

Provides public access to their knowledge: An expert knows how to translate highly specialized information to a format that is easily understood by anyone. For instance explaining the impact of a news event and providing the information in a way the reader can utilize.

Up-to-date and well-versed in current industry news: Especially in social media marketing there is a heavy emphasis on being well-informed. The information you distribute has to be factual and accurate, otherwise it can lead to serious problems. An expert is well informed in regard to all the latest developments in their niche which places them in the position of being consulted when there are questions on issues, or to make announcements that pertain to their networks.

Broaden the perspective: Because they are acknowledged experts, this affords them the ability to change the perceptions and perspectives. Experts can bring new information to light, and test the validity of traditional concepts or practices by introducing new ideas or principles, theory or terminology from related fields of interest.

Accumulate and validate information: Experts are selective in the information that they disseminate, filtering the content they provide for their audience. They distill the most vital data from the content and bring together related viewpoints or discussions to provide a comprehensive overview of the issue. This allows others to contribute ideas on how to move forward toward a solution.

Research, research and more research. Experts study the phenomenon of current events more thoroughly than others and because of this they have access to knowledge that is unique. They also analyze current events or perform case studies to support their theories.




This is a good

example of

how to answer

the visitor’s

question: “What’s

in it for me”

EXAMPLE OF AN AUTHORITY WEBSITE USING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING – Figure 1

The Web 2.0 layout and design; open, easy to navigate, content-rich, regularly updated, relevant to the visitor, visitor content contributions encouraged

A short 3.5 minute

video with a light

approach removes

the drudgery from

learning how to use

one of the website’s

promoted services,

RSS Feeds. To see

the video, follow

this link:

http://blip.tv/file/20

5570/

Using graphical

icon draws

attention to the

post more

effectively than

words alone

Display Ads

kept to a

minimum




EXAMPLE OF AN AUTHORITY WEBSITE USING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING – Figure 2 Web 2.0 layouts are designed to empower the visitor, provides the tools and resources they need to

obtain the information they want and take the action you desire.

Far more

effective in

conveying site

activity for the

visitor than a

“stats counter”

Make it easy for your

visitors to take the

action you desire and

increase your

authority quotient at

the same time.

The visitor discovered

how easy it is to

subscribe and now

they can see how it

works without leaving

the site.

Contextual

ads kept to a

minimum

placed

toward the

bottom of the

page




EXAMPLE OF AN AUTHORITY WEBSITE USING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING – Figure 3

Web 2.0 layouts are designed to make it easy for you to become part of the visitors world, provides them with alternate ways of accessing your information.

Show your

community

connections




What’s the Big Deal about Authority – Who Cares Anyway?

The Internet users you want to reach care along with Google and the other search engines. Here’s why

you should care as well: the true goal of creating an authority website is to achieve sustainable high

rankings in the search engines. At best, high rankings without authority can only be sustained for a short

period of time.

Many website operators may have a fair amount of skepticism, perhaps thinking about the amount of

time, effort and money required to achieve the rank of an authority. However while time and effort is

par for the course in authority development, a huge budget is not. Consider these two successful

examples of using social media marketing and who truly understand this concept; Dosh Dosh (the

website illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3) and Problogger.com. These have become two of the best

known and most valued website authorities with small staffs and budgets. Other examples are websites

that function as an information hub, for example some of the largest websites on the Internet are

directories which utilize social media marketing.

The implications of this strategy are far-reaching; it changes the scope of search engine marketing as

well as the content that you produce and the networks you join.

Now the main question to ask before you act is: How does this help to establish me as an authority in

my field?




How Can You Become an Authority?

The power of social media marketing is unlimited when you consider the impact of all of the

components combined. Now that you recognize how important it is to become an authority, the

challenge is how to accomplish this goal. To begin, you have a choice of 3 strategies, each with its own

benefits and shortcomings, the tools that you use are dependent on the strategy you select and defining

your goal.

Strategy Number One:

Choose a particular niche and become the best source of information about it. This requires you

topic to be broad enough to prevent type casting without overextending your reach which

would make it impossible to establish yourself as an expert.

Strategy Number Two:

Select complicated industry issues, simplify and explain them.

Strategy Number Three:

Bring a fresh perspective to a subject or break new ground with new concept.

For each one of these strategies, the key word here is communication: your audience must be able to

relate to your contributions and be able to understand your knowledge for your reputation as an expert

to benefit.

It’s important to be honest with yourself in choosing a strategy. Are you especially knowledgeable about

a particular niche? Have you discovered something revolutionary about a specific industry concept? Do

you have an exceptional ability to simplify complex issues and communicate in a way anyone can

understand?

In addition to your strategy, there are two other major tasks that create an authority presence in social

media marketing: networking and association.

Become a “Super-Friend”: Be genuine and share your knowledge freely and openly without any

expectations. Creating an authority presence by becoming a super friend require extraordinary

interpersonal skills. When a person is a great friend with a large circle of industry peers, it helps to

create an affinity between the individual and members of the group. This opens the door to showcase

your knowledge and earn their respect.

Choose your company wisely: The saying goes: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Emulate the

authority you most admire and associate with other authorities. In social media marketing, your

associations form part of the public perception of your website. Everything associated with your

Internet presence is important to consider in terms of the value they relay to your website authority

quotient. Choose inappropriately and it can impact the perception in a negative manner.




Be alert to opportunities: In many cases, timing really is everything; many fortunes have been made by

individuals who were at the right place at the right time. Although you cannot predict with certainty

when a turning point event will occur, many individuals have successfully “struck gold” by pursuing their

instinct about a theory or developing their concept into a material reality at the opportune moment.

Choosing a specific niche and using a combination of these methods is the surest way to become an

authority.




Authority Development Strategies: Tools of the Trade

The process of achieving expert status in your niche requires a solid plan of action where you

consistently publish content that explore the same topic in ever increasing depth.

Public authority evidence within your website content: Revamp your “About Us” page to

underscore your expertise in the specific field. Include your professional certifications and

recommendations from other experts. For your sales pages be sure to include testimonials from

satisfied clients. These website elements are termed “social proof4”defined in Wikipedia as:

“...A PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENON THAT OCCURS IN AMBIGUOUS SOCIAL SITUATIONS WHEN PEOPLE ARE UNABLE TO DETERMINE THE APPROPRIATE MODE OF BEHAVIOR. MAKING THE ASSUMPTION THAT SURROUNDING PEOPLE POSSESS MORE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE SITUATION, THEY WILL DEEM THE BEHAVIOR OF OTHERS AS APPROPRIATE OR BETTER INFORMED.”

Establish an open dialogue. Remember, communication is the key: create channels of communication

and encourage people to email or contact you with questions using a comments/suggestion/feedback

page. When you help people solve their problems it increases their confidence in you as an expert.

Become a Contributor to other blogs: Select authority blogs within you field of expertise and offer to

become a contributor. Publishing articles on related websites reinforces your visibility in your niche. This

is very useful in terms of branding yourself which is much more important than the amount of website

traffic you’ll receive. Remember to mention your “guest” blogging on your website and include your

keywords in your by-line.

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof



Author a book: Today with “on-demand” publishing services and e-book software, the high-cost barrier

to being published in paper or electronic format has been removed. When you write a book on a

specific topic, it immediately establishes you as someone who is knowledgeable in the field. An

electronic book or “e-book” can be used to enhance your personal brand. These can be easily shared

and are concentrated illustrations of your expertise.

Participate in discussions: Select the conversations that are focused on your topic and contribute your

knowledge. You can choose to be active by offer answers or advice to queries in communities within

your niche or publish an article in response and invite traffic from the forums to your website.

Commenting on blogs is an easy and effective way to add more credibility to your reputation.

Spotlight your accomplishments: Utilize the input from others to help shape the perception of your

website. Create a standalone page to draw attention to your achievements. Create a section of content

items such as; industry publication articles, media interviews, news articles and website ranking lists.

Expand the scope of your knowledge: Information is dynamic, develop the habit of researching new

developments and using new techniques such as “mind mapping” to build more value into your own

content. Create articles which explain the methodology or expand on certain principles or step outside

of your main audience focus. Use your audience demographics and create articles related to your niche

based on location, gender, age or occupation. This strategy increases the potential for growth in your

audience as well as increases the depth of your perspective.

SUMMARY

The previously outlined content issues are some of the basic elements you need to create authority. By

carefully choosing a strategy and the right tools, you can craft perceptions in your favor for your unique

brand. In the next section, “Web 2.0 Components and Tools” will reveal the nuts and bolts to building

your social media marketing campaign on this foundation.

In closing it is important to emphasize the personal component that is invaluable in creating an

authority presence and utilizing social media marketing to its fullest potential. The information provided

in this section should make the time and effort investment clear. Without a doubt, you must be truly

passionate about your niche to be convincing as an expert. You may try to fake it, but don’t – it will

come back to bite you.




Web 2.0 Components and Tools

In the previous section(s), the importance of developing an authority was discussed.

In this section, I will examine the multiple facets involved to establish your foundation to leverage your

Internet presence into powerful authority, and in turn, marketing success.




Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing

The relationship between Web 2.0 and social media marketing is simple: from a website owner’s

perspective, Web 2.0 is important because of its focus on user submitted and user controlled content

that many Web 2.0 services and sites allow.

In general terms, when people can make comments, submit content or links to content, and rate or vote

on content, it affects the amount of traffic that content can generate.

The visitors take that control of what shows up in the most prominent places by voting, commenting

and other actions can literally make or break a marketing campaign.

As a marketer, being aware of the best places to show up and how they work will bring you traffic. More

traffic than you ever got without social marketing in many cases.




Brand Awareness and Social Media Marketing

BUILDING YOUR WEBSITE AUTHORITY FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING CAMPAIGN HAS SEVERAL

CORRELATIONS TO TRADITIONAL MARKETING SUCH AS “BRANDING.”

Repeated exposure to a branding message induces involuntary associations in the mind.

These instinctive brand associations are built through your participation and representation in social

media, making them easy ways to make your brand persistent. The collective result of your social media

marketing activities is that your branding message seeps into your audience unconscious.

AN EXAMPLE OF THE POWER OF BRANDING VIA THE MEDIA IS SEEN IN THE GENERAL PUBLIC IMPRESSION

OF MIAMI. WHILE THE FLORIDA TOURIST BOARD PROMOTES MIAMI’S ATTRACTIVE FEATURES OF GOOD

WEATHER, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE AND BEACHES, AN OPINION POLL REPORTS THAT THE POPULAR 1980’S

TELEVISION SHOW “MIAMI VICE” IS USED AS THE REFERENCE POINT FOR THE IMAGE OF THE CITY5.

What are branding associations?

They are the images, keywords, phrases and ideas that you use to identify your business and website.

These associations are important because they not only define your site but act as “triggers” for creating

marketplace “buzz” and “word-of-mouth” advertising. These yardsticks measure authority by

encouraging your audience to connect the dots between their interests and your website.

Generally speaking word-of-mouth advertising is called a RECOMMENDATION OR REFERRAL. These are

result of keyword association to the topic and excellent content. If your domain name is directly linked

to the most common keywords for your product or service, such as www.incominglinks.com, it creates a

stronger word of mouth association than one that is generalized such as www.tips.com. Whatever the

focus of your website, whenever this topic is discussed, you want your website mentioned in the

conversation. Keyword strong and exact matching domains will typically yield faster, better results for

search engines. I created www.socialmediasoftware.net – and showed up first page in Google in 48

hours for that term (“social media software”). I gained from the key phrase and the

branding/association very quickly. (Note: there is not a lot of searches for the term – yet).

This strategy reaches beyond the obvious SEO benefit of utilizing keywords to get targeted search

traffic. Effectively using methods to increase your branding associations increase the instances that

trigger word of mouth. Sometimes, visual devices can be used to draw up unconventional and unrelated

mental associations. Icons and images used to identify your site can assist the “instant recall” of your

site when similar images are seen elsewhere.

5 http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=72969


http://www.incominglinks.com/

http://www.tips.com/

http://www.socialmediasoftware.net/

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=72969



In addition to tracking a site’s growth according to its traffic, subscriber figures or revenue, your focus is

on the level of concepts/keywords associations. The value of this form of branding rests in its use as a

qualitative measure of your site’s position in its niche. The closer that your branding image is

associated with the niche as an authority the more successful your social media marketing campaigns

will be. Pay attention to the feedback about your website by tracking your brand using Google Alerts

(http://www.google.com/alerts) and record the number of mentions per month.

If you want sophistication and need more features - try Radian6. (paid)


http://www.google.com/alerts

http://www.google.com/alerts

http://www.radian6.com/



Credibility and Trust: The Big Picture of Authority

The buzzwords of today’s Internet are “open” “transparent” and “credibility or trust.” Your trust value is

determined on the fly by people looking at your profile on any social site and seeing how active you are

and how highly others rate your interaction, whether it is how popular the stories you submit have been

or how many friends recommend you.

Developing trust is no small feat and it’s one of the biggest factors in becoming an authority, here are a

few tips to show visitors your site is the real deal.

Use an aged domain name6. Steer clear of ambiguity using a domain name that's been around

for a while, has been indexed without any spamming issues, collected some inbound links and

Page Rank.

Register your domain name for 10 years. Show that your site is not a fly-by-night operation by

registering the domain name for several years in advance, a point that Google may very well

look into.

Make sure your WHOIS data matches7. Check to see if your WHOIS data matches the contact

information on your site and privacy policy.

Avoid private WHOIS data8. Let search engines and users alike know that you're not afraid to

hide behind a curtain of privacy, and you'll enjoy more authority.

Set up an online press room9. Make it easy for journalists to learn more about your site and

what you do by providing them with the information they seek. This is also a great way to get

more mileage out of your press releases.

Get a SSL certificate10: Deter the Internet gremlins by using a SSL certificate to keep your visitors

safe from prying eyes.

Use a SSL certificate on your web forms11. Even if a security certificate isn't completely

necessary for your site, using one for all of your forms shows that you're paying attention to

security and privacy.

6 http://www.earnersblog.com/aged-domains/ 7 http://www.redflymarketing.com/blog/the-5-easiest-ways-to-get-search-engines-to-trust-you/ 8 http://www.sharpseo.com/blog/index.php/archives/48 9 http://www.press-release-writing.com/newsletters/t77-online-press-room.htm 10 http://www.verisign.com/ssl/ 11 http://www.redflymarketing.com/blog/the-5-easiest-ways-to-get-search-engines-to-trust-you/


http://www.earnersblog.com/aged-domains/

http://www.redflymarketing.com/blog/the-5-easiest-ways-to-get-search-engines-to-trust-you/

http://www.sharpseo.com/blog/index.php/archives/48

http://www.press-release-writing.com/newsletters/t77-online-press-room.htm

http://www.verisign.com/ssl/

http://www.redflymarketing.com/blog/the-5-easiest-ways-to-get-search-engines-to-trust-you/



Get a dedicated IP address12. Avoid ending up in a bad neighborhood or accidentally linking

between the same C-Class by just getting your own IP address.

Prove that your business is real13. List a physical address, show photos and disclose business

associations to prove that your organization is real.

12 http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2007/03/which_is_better.html 13 http://credibility.stanford.edu/


http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2007/03/which_is_better.html

http://credibility.stanford.edu/



The Making of a Social Media Marketing Campaign

(Courtesy Ignite Social Media)

REVISITING THE DEFINITION OF WEB 2.0

Rather than a defined technology, Web 2.0 is an "attitude" or perspective. The outstanding

characteristic of this perspective is to enable and encourage participation in an "open" environment.

This openness refers to the behind-the-scenes technology AND the socially open policy, granting rights

to the audience to contribute and use the content in a variety of contexts.

WHAT MAKES WEB 2.0 WORK?

Simply defined web 2.0 is “a combination of online platforms, applications, and media created with

the aim of facilitating interaction, collaboration and sharing of diverse range of content types.”14

14 http://www.universalmccann.com/Assets/wave_3_20080403093750.pdf


http://www.universalmccann.com/Assets/wave_3_20080403093750.pdf



What Makes a Viable Social Network?

THE BASICS

Common Purpose: Participants need to network and collaborate with others in their field

Make It Scalable: 12,000 architectural ornament designers and 2 million real estate

professionals in the US don't scale

Critical Mass of Users: Networks are more viable when there are a high number of participants

Make it Attractive: An easy to navigate design and content are top priority

Networks Need Leaders: A high profile works to attract followers: Marc Andreessen, founder of

NING has created a leading DIY social network platform. Where DIY Networks started by

unknowns rarely gain the popularity required to make them viable.

Make it Indispensable: The content and conversations should provide motivation and support

to the audience to the point they rely on the website.

Networks Need Data: Networks must leverage user-generated data to fuel the context of the

conversation.

It Must Have Integrity: Viable networks prohibit participant spamming. Networks don't work if

participants use it as an advertising platform.

Make it Easy To Use: Networks need simplicity, for example Twitter simplifies broadcasts to the

participant’s network




CERTAIN VERTICALS SCALE WELL

YouTube: A self expressive vertical

Facebook: A general social network

Trip Advisor: Consumer advocacy and options

Wamba: A cultural vertical

Cultural Verticals such as RedBlue America evolved early, while others like Facebook matured

over time.

Self Expression Verticals include Flickr, FanNation, YouTube and Last.fm. Video, music, sports

and travel topics are highly personalized and emotionally connected

Online shopping sites have well developed consumer communities: Amazon.com, Epinions,

eBay and Beatthat! are good examples. Yelp, Trip Advisor and Angie’s List are examples of local

review sites have become big brand names.

WHAT INTERESTS DO NOT SCALE?

Hobbies

Small industries

Specialist Occupations

Litigious industries cannot use social media marketing effectively: Health Care professionals cannot

contribute advice online without liability issues. These industries are forming their own closed networks.




How Industries can use Social Media Marketing

Few industries have social networks: real estate is a unique industry vertical that uses social media for

lead generation.

On the other hand the pharmaceutical industry is too arcane for a network. What would the workers in

this industry discuss?




Industry Social Network Examples

Restaurants and Food: FohBoh.com is a good example - recipes have been exchanged for

centuries

Travel: TripAdvisor.com discusses travel from an industry perspective and consumers can

peruse for deals.

Academia: Currently academic research is retained behind university walls; a collaborative

network could open the gates.

Retail: Retailing is a vendor intensive industry that will support diverse Business-to-Business

conversations.

Global Trade: Potentially multi-lingual, participants discuss import/export and market

opportunities by contributing substance and not spam.

Fashion: Designers and publications have brought the consumers into the rating process.

Green/Ecology: Green/Holistic/Natural living social networks for the betterment of humanity

and the earth: "green" is the buzzword of today.

Entertainment: IceWhole is the first social network for the film industry.

Self-Help/New Age: Highly personalized and Inspires Loyal Participation




Occupational Social Network Examples

Car mechanics: Leverage the popularity of National Public Radio's car talk to a community of

mechanics describing “how-to’s”.

Law Enforcement: The popularity of reality police shows translates into a reality community

where they discuss their life work.

Truck drivers: CB radio fueled the first occupational network in the 70s. Mobile devices and WiFi

trucks stops should fuel this community.

Performing artists: Bring performers, pro and amateur into conversations and videos about the

arts and productions-schools especially need resources for amateur productions.

Insurance: Insurance of all kinds confuses most consumers, instead of boring insurance issues

they can make them relevant to their neighborhood.

Lawyers: The diversity of the law promotes knowledge sharing and networking for resources.

Legal on Ramp is a closed invitation social network. Using a blanket disclaimer an open network

benefits the masses with general advice.

Teachers: Networking for jobs, curriculum ideas and self-marketing. Teachers.net is good, but its

forum based and doesn't profile participants.

Consumers-reviews: These are currently incorporated in shopping sites. Develop a massive

product database and let users rate and review them. Consumer Reports Online doesn't have a

community because they still charge a fee for content.

Management Case Study: For managers everywhere, create and upload case studies for

distribution and feedback. Case studies are effective resume supplements.




Appreciating the Power of Social Media in Other Industries

(Courtesy distilled.co.uk)

Recently, in addition to the industries and occupations listed above, there has been a movement to

social media marketing within the banking sector.

Money management through financial services and banks is a top concern for everyone making it ripe

for social networking applications.




Why should the Finance Industry Care About Social Media?

1. Consumers influence the image of your company

2. People’s expectations of financial services have changed

Why should the finance industry embrace social media?

credit crunch

limited trust

new customer expectations

the shift in power

limited IT/marketing budget

transformation programs

develop customer advocacy, be transparent, show the human side of finance




The Many Faces of Social Media in Finance

TECHNOLOGIES AND TRENDS

blogging

virtual worlds

micro blogging

widgets

photo / video

podcasts

RSS

ideas and innovation labs

peer-to-peer lending

customer reviews

social networking




TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA PROJECTS

high risk, complex and restricted

intranets

online services

low risk, easy to implement, open

business-to-business projects

business-to-consumer projects

"…more Americans will turn to online p2p (peer-to-peer) social lending networks

to pay off credit card debt; this amount borrowed for this purpose

is expected to grow from $38 billion in 2007 to $159 billion by 2012."

- Javelin Research and Strategy, 12/0715

“Financial business must adopt social media campaigns to interact

and communicate with customers 60% of the Fortune 1000

companies will have connected with or developed an online

community by 2010. 50% of companies will develop a social media campaign

will fail risking damage to their brand.” - Gartner Research, 10/0816

15 http://www.javelinstrategy.com/ 16 http://www.gartner.com/


http://www.javelinstrategy.com/

http://www.gartner.com/



Social Media is All About People

People make the world go round and we are all consumers. The shift to placing the emphasis on the

human factor is shaking up the traditional business model as well as the way information is presented

on the Internet.

(Courtesy masternewmedia.org)




How Companies Can Utilize the People Power of Social Media

Internally: subject matter experts, social media champions, community mgrs., editors

Externally: contributors, detractors, advocates, clients, prospects, prominent bloggers

KEY TO SUCCESS OF AN ACTIVE COMMUNITY

Reward your internal and external audience by providing:

Exclusive content: For example, expert video interviews

Contests/prizes: For example, submit ideas, get votes and win a cash prize

Fun/experience: For example, send an audio greeting

Visibility: For example, advertise top community contributors

Make the employees the stars of the show: for example, identify their passions/expertise and customers

will relate to them

Other benefits:

visibility/recognition motivates productivity

increase employee advocacy and retention

attract top new talent to the workforce




Important Focal Points in Social Media Marketing

Learn: work with a subject matter expert, watch trends, see what the world is searching for,

identify the best practices in finance industry and then organize internal workshops

Listen: monitor online reputation, keep your finger on the pulse of blogosphere; Google Blog

Search, Technorati, Facebook and Wikipedia

Participate: create company pages on major social media sites, avoid brand jacking, go local,

utilize employee/champions

Engage: start where it makes sense, blog, social networks, customer reviews, virtual island, be

honest and transparent, drive recruitment, engage and reward

Measure: develop realistic targets, traffic, member base, activity, RSS subscribers




How can the Finance Industry Realize ROI (Return on Investment)?

SOLUTIONS

blogging

drive customer / employee advocacy

drive natural search, reduce pay-per-click advertising

increase share of voice, improve good vs. bad ratio

social networking /customer reviews

increase propensity to buy, shorten product purchase cycle

create p2p networks, excellent for profiling

increase adoption of online svc use

increase traffic and time on site

target duo purpose customers

idea generation / innovation labs

research and development: capture feedback - involve the market

prioritize product launches, increase success rate

BENEFITS

online sales

online marketing

branding

customer advocacy

employee advocacy




What Does It Take To Create A Successful Social Network Blog?

A human friendly interface

Make it easy to subscribe - spread the word

Make it easy to leave a comment - capture email address

Build it so it’s search engine friendly

Be creative with your content - topic of interest

Focus on emotions - not products

Post regularly and respond to comments promptly

Involve employees

Be transparent/honest

Do not sell on your blog

Encourage word of mouth advertising

Leverage multimedia sources such as YouTube and Flickr

Launch competitions

Engage with prominent bloggers

Reduce risk by publishing clear guidelines and developing moderation process

Enhance credibility by involving senior executives and inviting famous guest bloggers




Focus On the Subject Matter Expert Market

“Our goal is to partner with small business owners across the

country to help them achieve their dreams of owning and

operating a successful business.” - Bank of America, United States-Small Business Network

“The site provides a platform where entrepreneurs can interact

and exchange ideas with other who share similar life goals,

ambitions and dreams. It's also a place of opportunity where

entrepreneurs can discover and make contact with potential

partners and collaborators throughout Europe. - Fortis Bank Belgium - Join 2 Grow




Social Media Marketing Best Practices

DIFFERENTIATORS

Be original

Involve your fans

Urge your members to promote the community

Make it easy to contribute

Be seen as an innovator

EXPECTATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS

Number of visits-traffic

Number of members-subscribers

Number of upgrades/changers

Number of posts

Number of comments

Without a doubt, social media is converging into mainstream media and the axiom to keep in the front

of your mind is: People First. Still not convinced? That’s great!

Now you will have a chance to prove it to yourself in the following web quest section.




A Digital Money Web Quest

INTRODUCTION: Small Town Bank

http://www.smalltownbank.com/

Owned and operated by local people from Randolph and Cleburne Counties, Alabama Small Town Bank

opened in 1999. The home office is located in Wedowee with branch offices in Ranburne, Roanoke and

Heflin. All four offices are full service banks and are open six days a week.

Small Town Bank uses the marketing strategy of being “real community bank." Our goal is to meet the

needs of all customers, ranging from small loans to Internet banking, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.

The company is concerned about the impact of recent publicity of banks and other financial institutions

in the current economic state of affairs. The question is: Should they increase their online presence and

if so, how should it be structured?

REFERENCE CASE STUDIES

Bank of America (http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/index.jspa ) and BNP

Paribas (http://www.bnpparibas.com/en/sustainable-development/) both of these banks have

established social media marketing programs.

The Quest

In this web quest you have a chance to apply some of the information from the first three sections to

see how social media works, and how you can apply it to your own industry, company or occupation.

Your mission, (should you choose to accept it) is to use the reference case studies to discover, analyze

and evaluate in a brief essay following:

How can Small Town Bank best utilize social media?

Starting point: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/8122/The-Real-Way-to-Profit-from-Social-

Networking?tickers=


http://www.smalltownbank.com/

http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/index.jspa

http://www.bnpparibas.com/en/sustainable-development/

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/8122/The-Real-Way-to-Profit-from-Social-Networking?tickers

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/8122/The-Real-Way-to-Profit-from-Social-Networking?tickers



What is the status of the finance industry?

Starting point: http://www.congoo.com/Finance

Which social network is best suited to their brand?

Starting point: PR9 facebook.com http://www.facebook.com/

PR9 twitter.com http://www.twitter.com/

PR8 blinklist.com http://www.blinklist.com/

PR8 del.icio.us http://del.icio.us/

PR8 digg.com http://www.digg.com/

PR8 reddit.com http://www.reddit.com/

PR8 propeller.com http://www.propeller.com/

PR8 stumbleupon.com http://www.stumbleupon.com/

PR8 mixx.com http://www.mixx.com/

Identify how Small Town Bank can use the following in their social marketing strategy:

Customer advocacy

Starting point: http://www.cimco.net/CorporateInfo/CustomerAdvocacy.aspx

Employee advocacy

Starting point: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Effective-Communication-bw-14579281.html


http://www.congoo.com/Finance

http://www.facebook.com/




http://www.blinklist.com/


http://del.icio.us/

http://del.icio.us/

http://www.digg.com/


http://www.reddit.com/


http://www.propeller.com/


http://www.stumbleupon.com/


http://www.mixx.com/


http://www.cimco.net/CorporateInfo/CustomerAdvocacy.aspx

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Effective-Communication-bw-14579281.html



Which would be the easiest starting point for Small Town Bank and why?

Blogging

Social Network creation

Online service provision

Intranet

What are the risk/security factors to the image of the Brand?

Where will they experience the greatest Return on Investment (ROI)?

Your essay should be approximately 1,500 words and should include citations for your reference

sources.

Comments and questions are welcome in the blog (final page).

SUMMARY

There are thousands of tools and resources available to be employed in social media marketing all

focused on the axiom of “People First.”

In the next section “STIMULATING “VERY SERIOUS” VISITOR TRAFFIC AND SEARCH ENGINES

RANKINGS” I will focus on the personal experience of your audience on your website – and how it

impacts your search engine rankings.




Stimulating “Very Serious” Visitor Traffic and Search Engines

Rankings

WHAT IS “VERY SERIOUS” TRAFFIC?

Simply put, “very serious” visitor traffic at the bare minimum is the amount of daily targeted traffic you

need to meet the financial goals set in your business marketing plan.

The key to understanding visitor traffic is to first discover who is leading in the search engine rankings

for your niche. The figure to top is dictated by your niche, what you sell, and how much traffic you need

to reach your financial goal.

In some niches it is 4500 unique and highly targeted visitors a day, for others it is 500, while for others

it’s 100,000+.

Very serious visitor traffic is linked to those all important search engine rankings. To attain very serious

rankings your website has to be found via hundreds of longer, more unique keyword phrases searches

(“longtail” keywords) in addition to generic keyword for your niche. (“head” phrases/terms).

For instance, a website that currently gets an average of 6000 unique visitors a day doesn’t rely solely on

the search engines: the visitors reach the website from hundreds of different referring pages daily. In

addition the keyword searches span 1500+ unique and different keyword phrases. These websites

seriously have their social media marketing juju working at full tilt. That’s the kind of action you want.

Note: When you are first starting out, you could begin with a goal of a 100 visitors per day, for example.

If you convert on your specific page at 1%-3% (could be considered average or normal for your

business), you’ll see 1-3 leads per day.




The Bottom Line Value of Using Web 2.0 And Social Media

By this point as you make your way through the Web Quest, the reality of the awesome

potential for visibility, recognition, goodwill and profits should be in clearer focus. Since we are

all consumers with a lot of companies vying for our attention, understanding the reasoning for

investing in social media marketing is obvious:

Authority = Attention…

…Attention = Money

(Courtesy pension risk matters)

The high level of competition in every market niche represented on the Internet has been the underlying

motivation for Search Engine Optimization. Here the focus was on fine-tuning the technical aspects of

your website; the design, the textual and image content, the navigation and links.

Social Media Marketing takes the same analytical approach to the human side of the equation; it

qualifies the impact of human behavior and its role in website popularity.

Let’s look at one of the easiest ways to launch a social media marketing campaign by creating a

Wordpress blog.




The Making of a Web 2.0 Blog Post

In case you didn’t get the memo - Blogging is not a gimmick or just a journal; it’s the fast track to

delivering your message on a different platform. And if you are serious about attracting visitors, creating

and maintain a blog is critical to successfully employing Web 2.0 tools. Without a blog, your

competition has the upper hand. The search engine spiders simple adore Wordpress and other content

management systems because their structure was designed for syndication.

In addition, this structure allows you greater freedom than a static website. Using a blogging platform

provides you with one of the most powerful search engine tools as well as an interactive community

builder to attract willing-to-buy visitors to your site.

There are a variety of blogging platforms that you can choose from, in this example we are using

Wordpress. Why? Because it supports all of the Web 2.0 marketing strategies discussed in this guide.

Creating your blog is simple, but with thousands of blogs online, getting the attention you want requires

organization, consistency and effort. Here are the most critical points you need to address to market

your blog successfully:

The Ping List. The first thing you need to do after your blog has been created is to check the “ping” list.

Each time you create a post on your blog you can immediately let the world know about it through your

ping list. Login to your Dashboard, then go to Settings/Writing and paste this list

(http://forums.seochat.com/blogs-tagging-rss-feeds-74/rss-is-important-lets-spread-the-word-

58077.html) into the "Update Services" box.

TAG your post. One of the most powerful Wordpress plug-ins that can make your blogging easier is

Simple Tags (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-tags/) which allows you to categorize content

based on a tagging engine. Each time you make a post it adds your keywords as tags at the bottom of

your post as well as to your Wordpress pages.

Use TAGs throughout your post. Add more power to your posts by using the http://www.tagalizeit.com

plug-in you can include tags in your post which can keep you at the top of relevant lists for your topic.

Syndicate your post. This is the fastest way to generate immediate traffic. There are two types of

syndication websites that function differently. There are bookmarking websites like Del.icio.us and

article submission sites like Digg.com where users vote on the quality of the content.


http://forums.seochat.com/blogs-tagging-rss-feeds-74/rss-is-important-lets-spread-the-word-58077.html



http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-tags/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-tags/

http://www.tagalizeit.com/



Pump Up the Magnet Power Of Your Blog With Plugins

“What would Seth Godin Do?17” This plug-in which encourages people to subscribe to your RSS feed.

Wordpress Sitemap18-Search engines like sitemaps because with all of your links in one place it

makes their indexing tasks fast and easy.

All-in-One SEO Pack19– For putting the proper METAtags in your Wordpress blog.

Subscribe to Comments20– This plug-in is extremely popular because your blog visitors can post their

comment and receive notification when someone replies to their comment.

FeedBurner21– Now owned by Google this is one of the most popular news feeds on the Internet.

Smart Update Pinger22 – Avoids the problem of over-pinging by only sending the posts that have not

been published.

Note: Send an email to [email protected] – and I’ll send you the latest optimum plugin list!

17 http://richardkmiller.com/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do 18 http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/wordpress-sitemap-plugin/ 19 http://wp.uberdose.com/2007/03/24/all-in-one-seo-pack/ 20 http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/ 21 http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home 22 http://daven.se/usefulstuff/wordpress-plugins.html



http://richardkmiller.com/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do

http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/wordpress-sitemap-plugin/

http://wp.uberdose.com/2007/03/24/all-in-one-seo-pack/

http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/

http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home

http://daven.se/usefulstuff/wordpress-plugins.html



Know Your Website Visitors

It’s important that you know your audience and what they need to find your website and return

regularly. You have to consider both of these audiences to succeed in becoming an authority on the

Internet in your niche:

1. Your human target market, and,

2. The search engines, including Technorati

Tweaking your blog can make a significant difference in the amount of exposure you receive here are a

few tips:

Pay Attention to Your Post Titles

Use your main keyword as the first word in your post title is best but anywhere in your title will make it

score higher in the engines.

Technorati Tagging

Technorati is an authority website and you need to tag at least one thing in your post itself for

Technorati using Technorati plug-in.

Fine Tune Your Content Type

Authority blogs focus on a specific subject or topic and then fine-tune it to the nth degree, exposing

layer after layer of information. Your content type can be; insightful, entertaining, inspiring, thought-

provoking or controversial... the list is endless and they all describe content that is most linked to and

appreciated by Internet users who frequent ANY niche. For more insight on content types, check out this

great article on content writing “Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?” (from Copyblogger:

http://www.copyblogger.com/who-do-you-think-you%E2%80%99re-talking-to).


http://www.copyblogger.com/who-do-you-think-you%E2%80%99re-talking-to/

http://www.copyblogger.com/who-do-you-think-you%E2%80%99re-talking-to



Powerful Web 2.0 Content Research Steps

To develop this type of content you need to research which content types are currently working in your

niche. Perform a Google search on your top keyword and investigate what the top 10 sites have to say

about it. Use http://blogsearch.google.com as well, and do the same.

With this information in hand, create a better resource as a “riff post” (where you cite and link the

source of inspiration for your post). This is a great way to provide readers with a cool resource. Then talk

about it in your own words and tag it with the best, more relevant keywords for that content. You can

also use the information that you find to create something entirely new, especially if none of the top 10

sites are covering something important to the niche.

(Courtesy abcnews)


http://blogsearch.google.com/



Content Partnerships

Updating your content regularly is very important, but that doesn’t mean you have to be handcuffed to

your computer. Using Wordpress you can authorize a host of “authors” to contribute content to your

site.

Create a partnership with another blogger in your niche and agree to write original content (this could

be commentary, articles or short snippets, etc.) for each other on a regular basis. This is the new way to

exchange links that is much more substantial than the posting of a URL. There are thousands of people

using this technique to boost the amount of fresh new content on their site and increase the number of

back links as well. The more posts you have, the more relevant keywords in the search engines.




Capitalize On the Power Of The Link

(courtesy Elliance.com)

Linkbaiting23

has been called “The Ultimate Link Generator” but what the heck is it?

“Linkbait” is content that is over the top; it’s so important, useful, controversial or entertaining that it

immediately generates the word-of-mouth advertising or buzz every webmaster craves. This type of

content motivates other sites to link to it and talk about it which boosts the PageRank, visitor traffic and

elevates its search engine position.

You can launch a site into a dominant position in any niche using a well-thought out linkbait piece. Start

by reading the article that started it all The Art of Linkbaiting by Nick Wilson.

(http://performancing.com/promotion/links/the-art-of-linkbaiting)

23 http://www.morevisibility.com/seoblog/what-is-linkbaiting.html


http://www.elliance.com/

http://performancing.com/promotion/links/the-art-of-linkbaiting

http://performancing.com/promotion/links/the-art-of-linkbaiting

http://www.morevisibility.com/seoblog/what-is-linkbaiting.html



Here are a few other resources to get you started:

Brandon Hopkins: How to Linkbait Your Blog (http://www.brandon-hopkins.com/how-to-

linkbait-your-blog)

Stunt Duble: The Linkbaiting Playbook: Hooks Revisited

(http://www.stuntdubl.com/2007/01/12/linkbaiting-hooks/)

Rand Fishkin: Leveraging Linkbait (http://ypnblog.com/blog/2007/01/18/leveraging-linkbait/)

A huge part of a successful social media marketing campaign is dependent on the networks you choose.

It’s not feasible to utilize every social media website for several reasons; the most important is that they

must be appropriate for your audience. Select a handful of social media websites to monitor on a

regular basis.

The criteria for the primary websites you use in your strategy should have the highest traffic and most

relevant activities for your niche. To reinforce your social media marketing campaign, select a secondary

set of websites to visit periodically and interact to keep your “trust” value alive and kicking.

Gaining recognition by increasing your visibility on social networking sites works hand-in-hand with

linking your website from all of the right places.

Get listed in directories. Google reigns supreme in the world of search engines, however remember to

add your site as a listing in directories like DMOZ and Yahoo! to build authority.

Spread outbound links24. Linking to other authority sites in your niche is an important service that you

can offer to your visitors that not only boosts your website ranking in the search engines, but supports

your credibility as well.

Become an external link in Wikipedia. In addition to developing your own page on this authority site,

Wikipedia's external links generally point to authorities on their specific topic, adding your site as a link

in areas that it offers extensive information on topics related to your niche can be valuable to increase

the authority power of your own website.

Make internal links absolute25. Instead of using "pagename.html," point directly to

"http://www.yoursite.com/pagename.html," so that if your content gets scraped, you'll at least be able

to enjoy a link as a content creator.

Use contextual internal links26. Create links to other areas of your site whenever it's relevant to let your

visitors know that your website has more information related to their search.

Build incoming links27. Social media marketing is all about people and creating partnerships, as well as

providing quality content that others will want to link to, especially links that end in ".edu." By providing

24 http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/linking-out-often-its-just-applying.html 25 http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/seo-web-design/internal-links-are-you-making-the-most-of-yours/ 26 http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/seo-web-design/internal-links-are-you-making-the-most-of-yours/


http://www.brandon-hopkins.com/how-to-linkbait-your-blog



http://www.stuntdubl.com/2007/01/12/linkbaiting-hooks/

http://www.stuntdubl.com/2007/01/12/linkbaiting-hooks/

http://ypnblog.com/blog/2007/01/18/leveraging-linkbait/

http://ypnblog.com/blog/2007/01/18/leveraging-linkbait/

http://www.dmoz.org/

http://dir.yahoo.com/

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/linking-out-often-its-just-applying.html

http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/seo-web-design/internal-links-are-you-making-the-most-of-yours/

http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/seo-web-design/internal-links-are-you-making-the-most-of-yours/



excellent link collections for your visitors, they'll begin to reference your website as an information

“hub” which will boost your incoming links, because other site website owners will want to reciprocate.

Avoid linking to pages with less authority28. Authority building means linking only to websites that have

more authority than your own website.

SUMMARY

Remember that the essence of content and the main reason people use the Internet is INFORMATION.

Crafting your social media marketing campaign based on real, factual, usable and easy to understand

information will generate the attention and authority that is essential to success in the active Internet

world of today.

“Link Building to Authority Sites – Leveraging Social Media” will give you insight for putting all of the

pieces of your social media marketing campaign together; to generate the visitor/search engine traffic

and industry recognition you want using Web 2.0 tools.

27 http://www.incominglinks.com/ 28 http://www.seobook.com/archives/000661.shtml


http://www.incominglinks.com/

http://www.seobook.com/archives/000661.shtml



Link Building to Authority Sites – Leveraging Social Media

The step-by-step strategy for creating one component of your social media marketing strategy in the

previous section focused on a Wordpress blog.

For your website that is the home of your shopping cart and other types of content - begin with the

design of the site and follow the guidelines that support your goal of becoming an authority. Follow

these design tips to create a site that has the look and feel of an authority. Remember this as you start

adding pages to remain credible.

Pay attention to usability guidelines. A well-designed website is more than aesthetic beauty; there is

real science at work behind the scenes of the websites with the highest visitor ratings. Review the

guidelines and take the usability test29 at any point in the development process for best results or you

run the risk of detracting from your image as an authority.

Create an authoritative design30. Be sure that your visual design represents your brand image and

includes all of the features mentioned in the previous sections that support credibility.

Focus on quality31. Offer exclusive, powerful content that is in demand by others.

Add volume to your website32. Authority websites can contain hundreds of different pages covering

their subject matter in ever-greater detail. Remember as you start adding pages to remain credible.

Offer RSS feeds33. As an authority website with valuable content, it’s also vital to make it easy for your

audience to find and distribute it by using RSS.

29 http://www.usabilitysciences.com/services/lab-based-usability-testing/ 30 http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/web-credibility.cfm 31 http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/blog/?p=435 32 http://www.seo-news.com/archives/2006/sep/14prt.html 33 http://www.seo-news.com/archives/2006/sep/14prt.html


http://www.usabilitysciences.com/services/lab-based-usability-testing/

http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/web-credibility.cfm

http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/blog/?p=435

http://www.seo-news.com/archives/2006/sep/14prt.html

http://www.seo-news.com/archives/2006/sep/14prt.html



Content Is Still King

By placing the focus on people in using social media marketing the value of strong content cannot be

over-emphasized: dynamic content proves that your site is the authority in your chosen niche. Dynamic

content is content that is updated on a regular basis which prompts the search engines to return to your

website and index the new information. Here are few ways you can accomplish this goal:

Text content. Utilize a Content Management System to offer in depth articles about your subject using

time stamps or dates. This format is also useful in building your authority: individuals who are thinking

of creating a site in your niche can read the latest news first. The more credible your website appears

the easier it is to be listed in Google News, which will really establish you as a market leader.

Provide answers. Include a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or Glossary of Terms34. You can enhance

this feature by visiting question-and-answer sites like Yahoo! Answers to share your knowledge.

Image content. Keep in mind that Google, MSN and Yahoo allow Internet users to search images. Using

relevant keyword “alt” tags on your images add more “oomph” to your website content. Allowing your

visitors to use your high quality images in return for a link back is a good way to increase your website

visibility and generate goodwill. If your niche becomes popular and new sites start to spring up with

your images and a link to your site your rankings will increase.

Offer a diverse array of content types35. Provide a balanced mix of static, dynamic and multimedia

content to cater to different preferences of your visitors.

Create good content36. Offer exclusive content that other website in your niche doesn’t provide, and

your website gains the authoritative edge.

34 http://www.seobook.com/glossary/ 35 http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/blog/?p=435 36 http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/18/writing-good-content/


http://www.google.com/news

http://answers.yahoo.com/

http://www.seobook.com/glossary/

http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/blog/?p=435

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/18/writing-good-content/



Offer "expert pages37" Work from a narrow focus and create pages with content dedicated to a specific

topic with links to hub reference pages.

Provide a benefit38. Provide your audience with information that they can use; how-to tips, news items

or advice.

Avoid blatant advertising39. Keep your focus on creating and developing relationships with your

audience. Speak to their interest and keep your perspective on developing rapport and providing useful

information.

Develop a unique "voice40." Build you brand and attract a loyal audience by creating a recognizable

writing style.

Think interactive. Provide your audience with activities; surveys, ratings, suggestion boxes, comment

fields and feedback forms all demonstrate your interest in them and help to build community.

Speak on your readers' level. Make it easy for your audience to be engaged by writing in terms that

everyone understands instead of using industry jargon that is only understood by a few.

37 http://www.seo-theory.com/2007/07/24/trusted-site-seo-build-trust-authority-seo/ 38 http://www.contentblog.net/how-to-become-an-authority-blogger/ 39 http://www.affiliatewebsitedesign.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1317 40


http://www.seo-theory.com/2007/07/24/trusted-site-seo-build-trust-authority-seo/

http://www.contentblog.net/how-to-become-an-authority-blogger/

http://www.affiliatewebsitedesign.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1317



COMMUNITY

The cornerstone of social media marketing is community involvement. You can boost your networking

and community efforts with these tips.

Leave comments. Find the websites that are related to your niche and leave insightful comments that

will have readers looking to your site for more.

Participate in other forms of social media. You may have a page on Facebook, but don't overlook the

fact that your audience may also use LinkedIn. Regardless to the network you choose, it’s important to

participate in the discussion instead of submitting you links

Network. Sound familiar? The name of the game in 2009 is to connect and listen instead of introduce

and sell. Spend 90% of your time focusing on value-add, not sales. Build those relationships first!

Discover the connections of others in your industry and find ways to complement it, and this

acts as a springboard toward industry recognition as an authority. Don’t be a slimy sales-jock at

the social media party!

Write guest posts. Broaden your reach as an authority by using guest posts to introduce yourself and

your expertise.




Social Media Marketing Versus Advertising

In the article “Advertising to Gen Y” Scott Monty, head of social media for Ford Motors sums up the

perspective of the Social Media Marketing Guide nicely:

“The other day, I remarked that Ford is "not interested in advertising on social networks. We're

interested in getting in there and interacting with people."

(http://www.scottmonty.com/2009/02/business-of-social-media.html)

The Good News

The Bad News


http://www.scottmonty.com/2009/02/business-of-social-media.html





If you are interested in reaching the Gen Y market, here is what they want from you in order of

importance:

News or updates on products

Access to promotions

Access to view or download music or videos

Voicing the opinion

Connecting with others

The bottom line with these consumers is that your message must provide value and be relevant within the context of the social network if you want to see results.




Reference Sites

(Courtesy ashford.edu)

35 Top-Ranked Social Media Sites

See the definition of Pagerank (Wikipedia) first.

1. PR9 facebook.com http://www.facebook.com/

2. PR9 twitter.com http://www.twitter.com/

3. PR8 blinklist.com http://www.blinklist.com/

4. PR8 myspace.com http://www.myspace.com/

5. PR8 del.icio.us http://del.icio.us/

6. PR8 digg.com http://www.digg.com/

7. PR8 reddit.com http://www.reddit.com/

8. PR8 propeller.com http://www.propeller.com/

9. PR8 stumbleupon.com http://www.stumbleupon.com/

10. PR8 mixx.com http://www.mixx.com/

11. PR8 thoof.com http://www.thoof.com/

12. PR8 ning.com http://www.ning.com/

13. PR8 linkedin.com http://www.linkedin.com/

14. PR7 mister-wong.com http://www.mister-wong.com/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank







http://www.myspace.com/

http://www.myspace.com/

http://del.icio.us/

http://del.icio.us/











http://www.thoof.com/

http://www.thoof.com/

http://www.ning.com/

http://www.ning.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/

http://www.mister-wong.com/

http://www.mister-wong.com/



15. PR7 furl.net http://www.furl.net/

16. PR7 blogsome.com http://www.blogsome.com/

17. PR7 tumblr.com http://www.tumblr.com/

18. PR7 newsvine.com http://newsvine.com/

19. PR7 folkd.com http://www.folkd.com/

20. PR7 claimid.com http://www.claimid.com/

21. PR7 nowpublic.com http://www.nowpublic.com/

22. PR7 rojo.com http://www.rojo.com/

23. PR7 43things.com http://www.43things.com/

24. PR7 mystuff.ask.com http://mystuff.ask.com/

25. PR7 meetup.com http://www.meetup.com/

26. PR7 helium.com http://www.helium.com/

27. PR6 ma.gnolia.com http://ma.gnolia.com/

28. PR6 simpy.com http://www.simpy.com/

29. PR6 clipmarks.com http://www.clipmarks.com/

30. PR6 Yahoo myweb2 http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/

31. PR6 hubpages.com http://www.hubpages.com/

32. PR6 feedmelinks.com http://www.feedmelinks.com/

33. PR6 diigo.com http://www.diigo.com/

34. PR6 netvouz.com http://www.netvouz.com/

35. PR6 backflip.com http://www.backflip.com/

Authority Site Finder Tool: (http://www.seotoolsite.com/seo-tools/authority-site-finder.php) This tool

will identify your competition as well as authorities in other niches.

Digital Point Forums: Here you can purchase previously owned domain names that offer an “age

advantage” along with traffic. Check also http://www.buydomains.com

Google Reader: This easy-to-use feed is ideal for tracking your brand in the media, along with upcoming

industry stories that affect your niche.


http://www.furl.net/

http://www.furl.net/

http://www.blogsome.com/

http://www.blogsome.com/

http://www.tumblr.com/

http://www.tumblr.com/

http://newsvine.com/

http://newsvine.com/

http://www.folkd.com/

http://www.folkd.com/

http://www.claimid.com/

http://www.claimid.com/

http://www.nowpublic.com/

http://www.nowpublic.com/

http://www.rojo.com/

http://www.rojo.com/

http://www.43things.com/

http://www.43things.com/

http://mystuff.ask.com/

http://mystuff.ask.com/

http://www.meetup.com/

http://www.meetup.com/

http://www.helium.com/

http://www.helium.com/

http://ma.gnolia.com/

http://ma.gnolia.com/

http://www.simpy.com/

http://www.simpy.com/

http://www.clipmarks.com/

http://www.clipmarks.com/

http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/

http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/

http://www.hubpages.com/

http://www.hubpages.com/

http://www.feedmelinks.com/

http://www.feedmelinks.com/

http://www.diigo.com/

http://www.diigo.com/

http://www.netvouz.com/

http://www.netvouz.com/

http://www.backflip.com/

http://www.backflip.com/

http://www.seotoolsite.com/seo-tools/authority-site-finder.php

http://www.seotoolsite.com/seo-tools/authority-site-finder.php

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?s=4fffe2796491b5497efd3d9b93a23a98&f=59

http://www.buydomains.com/

http://www.google.com/reader



SitePoint domain marketplace: A trusted source of aged domain names where the sellers have the facts

to support their asking price.

NewsGator: This feed reader integrates with Microsoft Outlook to deliver news conveniently to you

inbox.

Link Authority Tool: Find out “who’s who” using this Link Authority Tool. (http://www.suma-

tools.de/link-authority/hubfinder.php)

HaloScan: A full-featured commenting system that makes it easy to manage your social network.


http://www.sitepoint.com/marketplace/viewcategory?categoryid=17

http://www.newsgator.com/

http://www.suma-tools.de/link-authority/hubfinder.php



http://www.haloscan.com/



Almost Done – Just Consider These Statistical Facts

The leaders of the most popular (search) websites are Google and Yahoo, respectively, which

demonstrates how important your search engine ranking is to reach the largest market share41.

YouTube ranked as third most popular site has over 100,000,000 videos42 and 65,000 new videos appear

each day.43

In the fifth position is Facebook, which currently has over 250 million users and 70% of those users are

International. Worldwide, over five billion minutes are spent on a daily basis on Facebook. 44 As a social

utility, Facebook connects you with the people that are in your life. For your business or non-profit

cause to gain free visibility, create a fan page or an event.

In June 2008, Twitter’s worldwide audience was 2.9 million. Twitter is now reaching 44.5 million unique

visitors as of June 2009. This is a phenomenal growth pattern with seven million new users in June

alone. 45 During this time, the Iran Election was covered on Twitter in real time. 46 Iranians using Twitter

amplified the controversy over the election results, which led to civil unrest.

Green, the color of the opposition movement, became a popular color for Twitter avatars as the social

media community protested along with the Iranians.47 Other social media resources included Facebook,

which had Farsi translation for the Iranians, YouTube and Wikipedia.

In the Top 10 List of most visited sites, the staff at Love To Know48 uses an interesting research-based,

somewhat subjective pattern to deciding on the list. Facebook is their number one, then Google and the

portal Hi5, which helps you find and locate friends locally and around the world. MySpace continues to

be in the top ten on many social media lists and is an excellent place for forums, blogs and a place for

bands to showcase new music.

41

http://mostpopularwebsites.net/ August 7, 2009

42 http://youtubereport2009.com/category/youtube-statistics/

43 http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-social-media

44 http://www.briansolis.com/2009/08/everything-you-never-knew-about-facebook/

45 http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/03/twitter-reaches-445-million-people-worldwide-in-june-

comscore/?awesm=tcrn.ch_2l4P&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_medium=tcrn.ch-twitter&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=twitter-publisher-main, Eric Schonfeld, August 3, 2009 46

http://mashable.com/2009/08/05/why-teens-dont-tweet/ 47

http://mashable.com/2009/06/21/iran-election-timeline/ 48

http://www.lovetoknow.com/top10/most-visited-websites.html August, 2009


http://mostpopularwebsites.net/

http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-social-media

http://www.briansolis.com/2009/08/everything-you-never-knew-about-facebook/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/03/twitter-reaches-445-million-people-worldwide-in-june-comscore/?awesm=tcrn.ch_2l4P&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_medium=tcrn.ch-twitter&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=twitter-publisher-main



http://www.lovetoknow.com/top10/most-visited-websites.html



Since 1990, the network of websites has grown into the millions allowing us to conduct business online,

work from home, access news, run a successful presidential campaign, read and blog about anything,

meet our soul mate, and interact with friends. Social media is pervasive in our daily lives, in society and

will be how businesses49 stage and launch campaigns from new products to new technologies.

49 http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/04/04/how-we-got-from-1-to-162-million-websites-on-the-internet/




Final Thoughts – Conclusion and the Future

Is social media marketing a fad?

From everything we have reviewed here social media marks an evolution point in the way people use

and relate to the Internet.

An active Internet user today (2009) is one who uses the Internet everyday or more than 3 times per

week for shopping, communication and entertainment. Compare this to Internet usage of 1999 when

the Internet was considered little more than an electronic encyclopedia and it is easy to see the impact

of social media.

Is social media marketing viable for every business?

With the wide range of Web 2.0 components available it’s very feasible that businesses from every

industry can benefit from selecting the ones that are most appropriate for their use with the proper

research beforehand.




Is social media marketing profitable?

All the statistics reveal that the profitability of social media rivals traditional media in terms of ROI. At

the same time, just as with Pay-Per-Click advertising, many companies have attempted to use social

media and failed miserably.

Is there a magic formula for ensuring social media marketing success?

Yes, give your audience what they want: the tough part is discovering the right amount of all the

ingredients we have reviewed here. One way to begin is simply to ask your audience what features they

would like to see on your website or what topics are high on their list. This is a realm that is dictated by

human behavior and the principles that motivate it. Understanding how this impacts Internet usage is

definitely the best place to begin.

Is a social media marketing campaign worth the effort?

For companies and individuals who want to remain competitive in the online marketplace, definitely. All

of the projections indicate that social media is not only a viable industry in its own right, but one with

tremendous growth potential and constantly developing avenues of expression, for example .MOBI

websites and PDA applications are already an integral part of the Web 2.0/social media landscape. If you

take into account the inevitable fallout where social networks fold, there is still no turning back the

hands of time: social media as a marketing venue is here to stay.




Thanks for Reading: Next Steps & Feedback

Thank you for your time and attention to the “Secrets of Social Media Marketing” B2B Guide.

I trust that you found the information contained in this guide and the accompanying presentations

helpful.

Let me know what you think, I enjoy comments, good, bad or indifferent.

And by now – you are on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Send me your information!

NEXT STEPS:

1. Send comments via e-mail at: [email protected] or

2. Go to the website at http://www.jonrognerud.com. Ask & comment in my blog!

3. Answer the questions below and let’s engage!

A. “How do you use social media for your business”?

B. “What is your biggest challenge with social media right now”? The conversation continues…

…and as Steve Jobs said: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish!






GLOSSARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TERMS50

This glossary is expanded upon. Please see the website for more information, and ask for the most

updated version, since these change.

AUTHORITY WEBSITE/WEBSITE AUTHORITY

A term use to denote the by-product of multiple factors (trust rank, relevance and endorsement from

websites who have earned a position of authority from search engines). In layman’s terms, it is a popular

site that people frequent, gets linked to on the basis of its merit, or that others willingly refer to when

the topic of that site comes into play.

BLOGOSPHERE

A collective term that encompasses all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs

exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social

network.

VERTICAL MARKET/CULTURAL/SELF-EXPRESSION

A vertical market is a group of similar businesses and customers which engage in trade based on specific

and specialized needs. Often, participants in a vertical market are very limited to a subset of a larger

industry (a niche market).

DYNAMIC WEB PAGE

Classical hypertext navigation occurs among "static" documents, and, for "web users," this experience is

reproduced using static web pages. However, web navigation can also provide an "interactive

experience" that is termed "dynamic." Content (text, images, form fields, etc.) on a web page can

change, in response to different contexts or conditions. There are two ways to create this kind of

interactivity:

Using client-side scripting to change interface behaviors within a specific web page, in response to

mouse or keyboard actions or at specified timing events. In this case the dynamic behavior occurs within

the presentation.

50 A L L D E F I N I T I ON S S U P P L IE D BY W I K I PE D I A : HT TP ://W I K I P E D I A . OR G


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niche_market

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_web_page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactivity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Client-side_scripting


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_and_feel

http://wikipedia.org/



Using server-side scripting to change the supplied page source between pages, adjusting the sequence

or reload of the web pages or web content supplied to the browser. Server responses may be

determined by such conditions as data in a posted HTML form, parameters in the URL, the type of

browser being used, the passage of time, or a database or server state.

The result of either technique is described as a dynamic web page, and both may be used

simultaneously.

INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Interactive media, a type of Collaborative media, refers to media that allows for active participation by

the recipient, hence interactivity. Traditional information theory would describe interactive media as

those media that establish two-way communication. In media theory, interactive media are discussed

along their cultural implications. The field of Human Computer Interaction deals with aspects of

interactivity and design in digital media. Other areas that deal with interactive media are new media art,

interactive advertising and video game production.

“LIVE PERSON” APPLICATION

One of many Customer Relations Management software programs using Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

technology which enables a customer to send questions as text messages to a company representative

in real time. There are also Video Chat applications available.

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of

web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata, typically in the form of tags that collectively

and/or collaboratively become a folksonomy. Folksonomy is also called social tagging, "the process by

which many users add metadata in the form of keywords to shared content".[1]

In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or

share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people

or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains.

The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a

search engine.

SOCIAL MEDIA


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-side_scripting


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_content

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML_form

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Locator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_%28computer_science%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_%28communication%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactivity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_influence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Computer_Interaction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media_art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_advertising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_bookmark


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_%28metadata%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking#cite_note-0


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_networking



Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing

technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and

with public audiences, typically via the Internet and mobile communications networks. The term most

often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the

construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information

is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among

communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as

user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social media marketing is a set of online marketing techniques that leverage social media. In the context

of Internet marketing, Social Media refers to a collective group of web properties whose content is

primarily published by users, not direct employees of the property (e.g. the vast majority of video on

YouTube is published by non-YouTube employees). Social media optimization (SMO) is a set of methods

for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites.

Social media marketing has two important aspects. The first, SMO, refers to on-page tactics through

which a webmaster can improve a website for the age of social media. Such optimization includes

adding links to services such as Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us so that their pages can be easily 'saved and

submitted' to and for these services.

Social media marketing, on the other hand, is about building ways that fans of a brand or company can

promote it themselves in multiple online social media venues.

Some social media marketers offer to write content that is remarkable, unique, and newsworthy. This

content can then be marketed by popularizing it or even by creating a #viral# video on YouTube and

other video sites, including getting involved in blogs, forums, and niche communities. Others in the

social media world consider this form of social media marketing Astroturfing or "fake grass roots".

According to Lloyd Salmons, first chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau social media council

"Social media isn't just about big networks like Facebook and MySpace, it's about brands having

conversations."[1].

SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS

Measurement and metrics enable marketing professionals to justify budgets based on returns and to

drive organizational growth and innovation. As a result, marketers use these metrics and performance

measurement as way to prove value and demonstrate the contribution of marketing to the organization.

Popular metrics used in analysis include activity-based metrics that involves numerical counting and

reporting. For example, tracking downloads, Web site visitors, attendees at various events are types of

activity-based metrics. However, they seldom link marketing to business outcomes. Instead, business


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_%28media_and_publishing%29


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_generated_media



outcomes such as market share, customer value, and new product adoption offer a better correlation.

MPM focuses on measuring the aggregated effectiveness and efficiency of the marketing organization.

Some common categories of these specific metrics include marketing's impact on share of preference,

rate of customer acquisition, average order value, rate of new product and service adoptions, growth in

customer buying frequency, volume and share of business, net advocacy and loyalty, rate of growth

compared to competition and the market, margin, and customer engagement. In addition, MPM is used

to measure the monitoring of operational efficiency and external performance.

SOCIAL NETWORK/NETWORKING

A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations)

that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial

exchange, friendship, sexual relationships, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade.

Social network analysis views social relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual

actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors. The resulting graph-based

structures are often very complex. There can be many kinds of ties between the nodes. Research in a

number of academic fields has shown that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to

the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations

are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.

STATIC WEB PAGE

A static web page is a web page that always comprises the same information in response to all

download requests from all users. Contrast with Dynamic web page.

It displays the same information for all users, from all contexts, providing the classical hypertext, where

navigation is performed through "static" documents.

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT (SME)

The term "SME" also has a broader definition in engineering and high tech as one who has the greatest

expertise in a technical topic. SMEs are often asked to review, improve and approve technical work, to

guide others, and to teach. According to Six Sigma, a Subject Matter Expert "exhibits the highest level of

expertise in performing a specialized job, task, or skill."

Sometimes the acronym "SME" is voiced as a word ("smee") and other times spelled out ("S-M-E").

In software development, as in the development of "complex computer systems" (e.g., artificial

intelligence, expert systems, control, simulation, or business software) a SME is a person who is

knowledgeable about the domain being represented (but often not knowledgeable about the

programming technology used to represent it in the system). The SME tells the software developers


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relationship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node_%28computer_science%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_%28mathematics%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_tech

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert_system



what needs to be done by the computer system, and how the SME intends to use it. The SME may

interact directly with the system, possibly through a simplified interface, or may codify domain

knowledge for use by knowledge engineers or ontologists. A SME is also involved in validating the

resulting system. SME has formal meaning in certain contexts such as CMMs.

USER GENERATED/CONTRIBUTED CONTENT

User-generated content (UGC), also known as consumer-generated media (CGM)[1] or user-created

content (UCC),[2] refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-

users.[3]

The term entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media

content production circles. Its use for a wide range of applications including problem processing, news,

gossip and research reflects the expansion of media production through new technologies that are

accessible and affordable to the general public. All digital media technologies are included, such as

question-answer databases, digital video, blogging, podcasting, mobile phone photography and wikis. In

addition to these technologies, user generated content may also employ a combination of open source,

free software, and flexible licensing or related agreements to further reduce the barriers to

collaboration, skill-building and discovery.

WEB 2.0

The term "Web 2.0" refers to a perceived second generation of web development and design, that aims

to facilitate communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the

World Wide Web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based

communities, hosted services, and applications; such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites,

wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.

The term was first used by Dale Dougherty and Craig Cline and shortly after became notable after the

O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World

Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but rather to changes in the

ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web. According to Tim O'Reilly … (click)

WORDPRESS

WordPress is an open source blog publishing application. WordPress is the official successor of

b2\cafelog which was developed by Michel Valdrighi. WordPress is now in the 2.8.x series.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_engineering

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_%28information_science%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Maturity_Model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_generated_media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_generated_content#cite_note-0


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogging

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_phone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licensing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_%28observation%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_development

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_sharing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interoperability

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_service

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_sites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_sharing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Dougherty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Cline

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Reilly_Media



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_developer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user_%28computer_science%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_O%27Reilly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog_software

Documents

How To Nail Social Media Marketing